Shop Girlie

Ok I am changing my cats name from Squirt to Shop Girlie...lol..I have about seven cats...it's a long story, but Squirt was the runt out of a liter of six. One died within half a day of birth, so I took her down to the vets the same day, the other four were all pretty healthy looking, and wasn't going to lose another. Doc had us make this high protein food in the blender and we had to hand feed squirt every three hours with a syringe for about two weeks, that was about six years ago. She survived and then some, now she is FEARLESS, she definitely rules the pack, no one messes with Squirt. I have an outdoor cat fence that runs from the back corner of my workshop, goes out about 100 ft and makes a ninety to the east side of the house which includes my closed in porch, patio. Doggy door from the porch lets them come and go. So when I am in the workshop I usually leave the door open, almost all the cats will come and visit from time to time, but when a saw starts up, csms, bandsaw, router, etc..they hit the road pretty quick, except Squirt, fearless, doesn't blink an eye when a saw starts up. She will usually always be out there with me. I just got off the csms and sat down to get a sip of beer, her she is on my doda table, didn't even wake up...she a Shop Girl thru and thru without a doubt

Pretty kitty... my cat isn't allowed out of the house since we've already lost 3 cats to either local dogs or coyotes... only local dogs any more are my two and the neighbor's Chihuahua, which is smaller than the cat anyway. He lives about a 1/4 mile down the road and likes to come around and use my yard as a toilet... my dogs are a Jack Russell mix (about 40 lbs and 18" at the shoulders) and a Silky Terror. They'll come in the shop for a minute or two, especially if I have company, but neither will stay long. The silky will sit outside in the shade and stay nearby, but Maggie the jack russell is a wanderer... she has her own agenda and sticks to it.... at 6 pm, she heads down the road to one neighbor's house to see what's for supper, then back up the road in the other direction to see what they have, then back home for her evening meal... she sleeps on the front porch in her house in winter and just on the concrete in summer and "guards" the place... we'll hear her all around the property at night barking to ward off "critters"- she may be warning off the coyotes... she greets all visitors and you would think she's starved for attention, she'll sit in front of visitors and whine and quiver, wagging her stubby tail the whole time.

nice try mark, she's letting you know that you are a guest in her shop....

Great to have a companion in the shop!

We noticed a cat was roaming around out house looking in the windows, setting the dogs off barking like crazy last winter.

I foolishly set out a live trap and actually caught the darn thing. Well, Long story short, after he spent a couple of months on the guest bathroom, He went from being a feral cat to really just the friendliest little guy. He immediately bonded with our other cat (that we found in a dumpster on a camping trip) and gets along with the dogs.

Still a bit twitchy, but I'll be darned if he isn't a great little mouser and certainly earns his keep.

As Sharon likes to say, we aren't cat people, but somehow, we seem to have a couple. When you live where there are rodents, it just kind of seems to make sense to have a couple of them around to help out.

I grew up with cats and like them, but am allergic to them also as I've found out in my later years. I'd love to have one around the shop for catching rodents otherwise.